The invention is directed to improvements in apparatus for receiving and dispensing flat articles in a packaging machine, in particular folded boxes which are lying flat. In one such apparatus, disclosed in German Offenlegungsschrift 40 03 153, for instance, folded boxes are delivered by means of a conveyor belt, on a substantially horizontally extending conveying plane, to a vertically disposed dispensing chute. The folded boxes are taken individually from the dispensing chute and transferred to a packaging machine. This apparatus, for the sake of a high yield of the packaging machine connected to it, requires constant supervision by operators, and frequent reloading of folded boxes by the operators.